NEW YORK - When the Breeders' Cup expanded from eight races in 2006 to 11 in 2007 and now to 14 this year, it had to come up with a way to divvy up the races over two days. This was the whole point of adding additional races: Other than last year's addition of the Filly and Mare Sprint, which has a corresponding Eclipse Award category, the five other new events were created out of expansionism rather than necessity. Breeders' Cup Ltd.
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DRF Past Performances
NEW YORK - There's never been a day of racing quite like Saturday, with a combined 11 Grade 1 races at Belmont and Oak Tree, each of them a direct prep for a Breeders' Cup race 27 or 28 days later. There are 22 winners of 38 Grade 1 stakes races on the two cards, including such stars as Curlin and Zenyatta, in what amount to national semifinals for the last weekend in October.
ARCADIA, Calif. - At a little before noon on Saturday, the best colt in America will be led to the Belmont Park detention facility to begin the prescribed six hours of relative isolation before defending his title in the Jockey Club Gold Cup.
About that same time, by around 9 a.m. in California, the best filly in America will be found in a stall at Santa Anita Park, across town from her familiar surroundings at Hollywood Park, but nevertheless ready to run in the Lady's Secret Stakes at around 2:30 that afternoon.
ARCADIA, Calif. - A year ago, if you dropped the name Ian Pearse into a conversation around the racetrack, a brief pause would ensue, after which someone might guess, "The new James Bond?" or perhaps, "Governor of Alaska?"
Anonymous no more, Pearse is now known as the Aussie who rode to the rescue last winter when Santa Anita's brand-new synthetic surface, the product called Cushion Track, failed to hold up under rainy conditions, resulting in 11 canceled programs.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Welcome to another autumn season of Thoroughbred sport presented by the Oak Tree Racing Association, better known as Santa Anita's petri dish.
Every major racetrack company should have access to one of these - a life-size, real-time mini-meet during which every conceivable betting innovation, grandstand contraption, and decorative doodad can be tested and tried by a readymade flock of flesh and blood customers.
The last time anyone bothered to check, Thoroughbred racing still has an image problem. Ask around. Just because the remains of Eight Belles have been laid to rest and Big Brown's steroids have cleared his system does not mean that the public won't turn on the sport in a heartbeat.
NEW YORK - Churchill Downs's announcement last Wednesday that the winner of an obscure race in England next March will get an automatic starting berth into the 2009 Kentucky Derby may or may not be a good idea on its own. If it is the only alteration Churchill is going to make to its flawed system of determining those berths, however, it badly misses the mark by addressing a trivial issue instead of the real ones, and only makes an already unfair situation even worse.
For Gary Tanaka, owner of such international stars as Golden Apples, Rakti, and Caitano, Monday marks either the beginning of the end or the end of the beginning. He doesn't care which, as long as he gets his day in court.
Since May 2005, Tanaka has been not-so-free on bail after a variety of charges were brought by the federal government in connection with his former company, Amerindo Investment Advisors. His former partner Alberto Vilar also was charged.
Nick Zito is a ceremonial kind of guy, with a well-developed sense of the dramatic. He revels in large gestures and broad strokes, while serving up an appreciation of history that only comes from those who make their share.
That is why it is no surprise to see Zito on his way to Boston on Saturday to run the 7-year-old version of Commentator in the $500,000 Massachusetts Handicap, at 1 1/8 miles on the Suffolk Downs main track.